ARQ, ARQ The Dogs Do Bark

Lest This Baffle You -
 - for Conrad does not care to be logical nor sequential and has been around for 188 years - I shall explicate.  There is a nursery rhyme that goes - 

"Hark, hark, the dogs do bark;

The beggars are coming to town.

Some in rags, and some in jags, 

And one in a purple gown."

     Clearly these are imposters attempting to sponge on the goodwill of the public.  If you turn up in town driving a Jag, you are certainly not penniless!

Proof, if it be needed

     Conrad is also rather suspicious of the beggar wearing a purple gown - purple being the colour of ancient nobility, you see: it's what they had their clothing dyed in.  Is this in fact a secret fact-finding mission by the monarch?  We can only guess ...
     Where was I?
     Oh yes, the title.  This is because I came across a list of worthy Netflix films, one of which is titled "ARQ", which piqued my curiosity.  It concerns a dystopian future (the best sort!) where a scientist and his partner are stuck in a time loop, and it develops from there.  I shan't say too much for fear of spoiling it, sufficient to say it involves the kind of clever low-budget film-making that made "Primer" such a mind-bender.
     There you go, today's title out of the way!

"Listen - I'm worried about that purple gown, too."

"JAG"
Or, another consequence of watching television and witnessing the trailers for other series with the sound on 'Mute'.  Which is a bit long for a title.
     The title, naturally enough, caught my attention, so I watched the trailer.  Were there any of the below?

A Jag

     No!  No, there were not.  A lot of primping, preening, Bright Young Things trying to be dramatic and instead hitting airbrushed and anodyne, with a lot of jet aircraft and ships.  Not a single Jaguar.  Should I write a stern letter?

What A Way To Start The Day
I hasten to add that this is a good start: blazing sunshine, a big cup of tea, toast and a bowl of porridge that's neither too stodgy or too sloppy.

     Plus those weighty tomes visible; the exceedingly detailed "Britain's War Machine", the exceedingly long "Ring of Steel" and - lest you harbour any misapprehensions about Conrad being some kind of closet intellectual - the "Mammoth Book of Zombie Comics".
     Just to give you an idea of the sheer workload I have in future reading, here's a picture of the current book mountain.  Art?

The "A - Z" is for reference only, I don't read it for fun

     The "History of World War II" is a piece-work picked up from Oxfam in Rochdale years ago, and now needs to be put in numerical order.  I seem to remember having another set of these knocking around somewhere, and may have to hunt them down.
     All part of life's rich pageant*!

Talking Of Nursery Rhymes -
Another one occurred to me, about the Lion and the Unicorn.  Don't whine so at being read nursery rhymes, these give all of you out there, who do not hail from the Allotment of Eden**, a valuable insight into our culture.  Go!

The Lion and the Unicorn

Were fighting for the crown.

The Lion beat the Unicorn

All around the town

          

The lion and unicorn in this case refer to the two heraldic emblems present of the coat of arms of the UK.  Art?

     Conrad can't really be critical of the unicorn because it's a mythical creature, although one presumes it would have characteristics similar to that of the moose or elk.
     The lion, however, I do take issue with.  This reputation it has as King of the Beasts is woefully undeserved.  It is basically the Freeloader of the Serengeti, leaving the work to lionesses and poaching hyena kills, because it's bigger.  As a lazy, bullying and noisy sloth of the savannah, it really shouldn't be an heraldic symbol.
     As a worthy successor, may I plead the case of the noble WEASEL!

Our hero

     The weasel performs a valuable role in controlling vermin, because it eats them***. Also, since they can attack in packs, they would easily be able to swamp the unicorn and devour it down to the bones.  Which would make for an awesome PG film, if a rather unsettling nursery rhyme. 



* For me.  Your view may indeed vary.  I won't hold a grudge.
**  You poor unfortunates.
***  Go on, how good a ratter is a lion?  Eh?